Northern Michigan University, located in Marquette, Michigan, is a dynamic four-year, public, comprehensive university that has grown its reputation based on its award-winning leadership programs, cutting-edge technology initiatives and nationally recognized academic programs. Northern has a population of about 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Ask a few Northern students what drew them to our university and you will get a variety of answers. That's because there is no single thing that make students want to go to Northern; it is ALL the things that we do here. Northern is big enough to offer a wide variety of academic programs but is also small enough that every time you walk across campus, you'll probably wave "hi" to someone you know.

Curiosity is the raw ingredient of knowledge. It causes us to ask questions, to seek answers, to learn. At Northern Michigan University, natural curiosity and intellectual challenge meet in stimulating classes grounded in the liberal arts. So wherever your curiosity leads you, you can count on the support you need to take the next step, ask the next question, propose the next hypothesis.

The mission of the Northern Michigan University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Recreational Sports and the United States Olympic Training Site is to create an environment that promotes academic excellence, interpersonal growth and social development; embraces diversity; teaches lifetime leisure skills; fosters spirit and tradition; and builds a lifelong connection to NMU.

Yes, you'll attend your classes, but what else will you be doing as a student at Northern? There's so much stuff to choose from. There's a student organization or club – almost 300 at last count-- for just about every interest. If you're into investigating the paranormal, anime or improv comedy, there's a group. Cheer on your fellow Wildcats at a hockey game or volleyball match. Join a competitive club sport or an intramural team. The sky is the limit.

Visiting Writers Program

2017-2018 Lineup

DANEZ SMITH: Thursday, September 7th, 2017 in the University Center's Marquette/Nicolet Rooms at 7:30pm.

​Recipient of a 2017 NEA Award, Danez Smith is a Black, queer, poz writer, and performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is the author of [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, and Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017). Danez is also the author of two chapbooks, hands on your knees (2013, Penmanship Books) and black movie (2015, Button Poetry), winner of the Button Poetry Prize. They are the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and is a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. Danez’s work has been featured widely, including on Buzzfeed, Blavity, PBS NewsHour, and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They are a 2-time Individual World Poetry Slam finalist, 3-time Rustbelt Poetry Slam Champion, and a founding member of the Dark Noise Collective. Danez is represented by Beotis Creative.

JOY HARJO: Thursday, October 5th, 2017 in the University Center's Marquette/Nicolet Rooms at 7:30pm.

Joy Harjo’s eight books of poetry include Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, and She Had Some Horses. Harjo’s memoir Crazy Brave won several awards, including the PEN USA Literary Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the American Book Award. She is the recipient of the 2015 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets for proven mastery in the art of poetry; a Guggenheim Fellowship, the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and the United States Artist Fellowship. In 2014 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. A renowned musician, Harjo performs with her saxophone nationally and internationally, solo and with her band, the Arrow Dynamics. She has five award-winning CDs of music including the award-winning album Red Dreams, A Trail Beyond Tears and Winding Through the Milky Way, which won a Native American Music Award for Best Female Artist of the Year in 2009. She is Professor of English and American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

ROBERT FANNING: Thursday, February 22nd, 2018 in Jamrich 1320 at 7:30pm.

Robert Fanning is the author of five poetry collections, including three full-length collections: Our Sudden Museum (Salmon Poetry, Ireland), American Prophet (Marick Press), and The Seed Thieves (Marick Press), as well as two chapbooks: Sheet Music (Three Bee Press), and Old Bright Wheel (Ledge Press Poetry Award). His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, The Atlanta Review, and other journals. Recent work has also appeared on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor on NPR, and Fanning was interviewed at the Library of Congress for the nationally-syndicated radio program “The Poet and the Poem.” A graduate of the University of Michigan and Sarah Lawrence College, he is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Central Michigan University. He is also the founder and facilitator of the Wellspring Literary Series in Mt. Pleasant, MI., where he lives with his wife, sculptor Denise Whitebread Fanning, and their two children.

KWAME DAWES & RANDA JARRAR: Thursday, March 29th, 2018 in the Huron and Erie Rooms of the UC at 7:30pm.

Kwame Dawes is the author of twenty books of poetry and numerous other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. In 2016 his book, Speak from Here to There, a co-written collection of verse with Australian poet John Kinsella appeared. His most recent collection, City of Bones: A Testament (Northwestern University Press) will appear in 2017. He is Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner and teaches at the University of Nebraska and the Pacific MFA Program. He is Director of the African Poetry Book Fund and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival.

Often called 'the busiest man in literature', Kwame will celebrate the publication of eight new books in 2016-2017.

Randa Jarrar’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Utne Reader, Salon.com, Guernica, The Rumpus, The Oxford American, Ploughshares, The Sun, and others. Her first book, the Arab-American coming of age novel, A Map of Home, is now on many college syllabi. It was published in half a dozen languages & won a Hopwood Award, an Arab-American Book Award, and was named one of the best novels of 2008 by the Barnes and Noble Review. Her new book, Him, Me, Muhammad Ali, was named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2016 by The Millions,a Key Collection for Fall 2016 by Library Journal, and one of Electric Literature‘s 25 best collections of the year. She has received fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Lannan Foundation,

Hedgebrook, and others, and in 2010 one of the most gifted writers of Arab origin under the age of 40. She runs RAWI (the Radius of Arab-American Writers) and loves coordinating events and strengthening communities.